Bauchi to re-establish cattle routes

The Bauchi State Government has vowed to prosecute all those involved in farmers and herders’ crises in the state to serve as a deterrent to others.

The governor, Bala Mohammed, stated this on Tuesday, September 8, 2020 while receiving a report of the Administrative Committee of Inquiry set up by the state government to look into the dispute between herders and farmers caused by land-use abuse and illegal allocation in all the 20 local government areas of the state.

He said the government would establish an implementation committee that would re-establish cattle routes and acquire lands that had been illegally taken away by some stakeholders in the state.

Mohammed said, “It is a shame that in this century, when our forefathers have done so much to establish the cattle routes, with beacons, coordinates and reserves, so that they can provide sustenance for us when we come back.

"But sadly, our environmental sustainability has been destroyed, and sometimes, they are just wantonly acquired without any use for the beneficiaries. So this attitude that is terrible must be reversed.

“This is the problem of Nigeria, especially in Northern Nigeria where we assume to have land, but we don’t have the land because they have been acquired and taken illegally.

"One person will take between 5,000 to 50,000 hectares of land and all the cattle routes have been taken over.”